What did you say about my Hungarians?
“I’m Afraid of Americans (Hungarians). I’m afraid of the world. I’m afraid I can’t help it.” -David Bowie-
My paternal ancestors immigrated to America from Hungary around 1890. They lived through the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49 and the Hapsburg reprisals that followed. Great Grandma Ethel died in 1981. Fortunately, my ancestors were out of Hungary before Nazi Germany and Soviet communism swallowed up Central Europe. Ethel lived in the same home as my father and her six chaotic Catholic grandsons (now all recovering Catholics except for one).
Dad always tells the story that as a child, after a big fight with uncle Jim-Bo, Grandma Ethel chased him around the house, yelling in her native language of Hungarian like a raving mad-woman. Eventually, Grandmother cornered Dad behind the kitchen table. She pushed the table in, trapping him, all the while speaking in her terrifying native tongue.
Dad says it was always terrifying and exhilarating to hear Hungarian. Only when Grandma Ethel was hot-blooded does he recall hearing Hungarian.
The Hungarian language should no longer exist. A brave and revolutionary push in the 19th century towards Hungarian nationalism/patriotism saved the language.
In grade school, in Flint, Michigan, I had a classmate with the last name Nagy, whose Hungarian grandmother lived in a neighborhood of one of my close friends. I still remember where Grandma Nagy’s house sits and the smell of her perogies.
Imre Nagy was the de facto Prime Minister of Hungary after the 1956 Revolution. Imre Nagy was hanged to death on orders from Moscow. Nagy was a communist that called for the expulsion of the Russians after the improbable success of the Hungarian people against the occupying Russians. Nagy paid with his life and remains revered and loathed by Hungarians today. Nagy’s remains played a part in the rise of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Two of my best friends in grade school are Hungarian. I just recently reconnected with one after 23 years. Our ancestors immigrated from Budapest to the factories in Flint, Michigan. They brought religion, community, work ethic, and family values to Flint.
With my Hungarian ancestors in mind, I visited Budapest with my wife. In February 2019, we took a 4-hour train ride from Vienna, Austria via Bratislava, Slovakia. For at least two hours we chugged and bent around the beautiful blue Danube River.
Budapest is an ancient crossroads along the Danube River. The ruins of the former Roman fortress Aquincum remain, where around 165 AD Marcus Aurelius wrote part of his Meditations. “Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.”
After the Romans, in the 9th and 10th Centuries, the Hungarians or Magyars were the scrooge of Europe. The Magyars developed metal stirrups for horses that allowed them to raid and pillage with great effectiveness. They could ride up and turn on a dime while dropping a hail of arrows. An advantage in tactics and firepower allowed the Magyars to spread their terrors throughout Europe. Common prayer in Germany and Lombardy in the 10th century was “Save us, O’ Lord from the arrows of the Hungarians.”
In two generations the Magyars grew tired of pillage and settled down to cultivate the Buda and Pest. The Magyars retired to cultivate. Hungarian peace has never lasted long.
In the year 1241, the Mongols and Commander Batu sacked Bud and Pest. Batu was ordered to take control of the Russian Steppe, Poland, and Hungary. The Mongols brought much misery to the inhabitants of Buda and Pest. Luckily for the Hungarians, Ogedei Khan died and all the Mongols had just one day left and went back to China.
Things only got worse for the Hungarians. Their lives were controlled in every aspect by the Hapsburgs, the Turks, the Hapsburgs again, the Nazis, and then until most recently Soviet Communists. They were made slaves. Hungarian peasants had their lands stolen. For generations, secret police beat fake confessions out of innocent Hungarians to impress Moscow. The Hungarians were taken as slaves by the Turks and sent to concentration camps by the Nazis.
After one thousand years of defeat, the Hungarians finally control their own destiny. On a cold winter night in February 2019, I stood on the banks of the blue Danube, beneath the world-famous Chain Bridge built by Istvan Szechenyi, my favorite Hungarian of all time. Szechenyi Baths in Budapest is the most famous Turkish bathhouse in all of the world.
The speed and darkness of the Danube below the Chain Bridge captivate. A place where my ancestors before me, most likely stood. A place that has known death, destruction, and ultimate despair. The Nazis destroyed the bridge in 1945.
Across the river is one of the most famous buildings in the world, the Hungarian Parliament. Its lights turn off at midnight. The darkness brings a feeling of sorrow.
Hungarians have likely endured more hardships and disappointments than any other European country. I do not mean to minimize the collective suffering of other nations or people, but just to speak up for my ancestors.
The strategic spot of Budapest on the Danube is the natural buffer of east and west. Victor Sebesyten’s new book Budapest Between East and West lays out the history of Budapest in a concise, elegant, and objective analysis of the ancient city. Sebestyen is the author of Twelve Days The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, 1946 The Making of the Modern World, Revolution 1989, Lenin, and now Budapest Between East and West.
Mr. Sebestyen’s family fled Hungary during the 1956 Revolution. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution was one that grew naturally from the people. Plainly speaking, the people could not take any more Soviet oppression and spontaneously rose up together with violence against their Russian masters. The tactics involved placing soap on brick streets to disable Russian tanks and tossing Molotov cocktails. Death was better to the Hungarians than one more day under the oppressive communist regime.
The Hungarians against all odds drove out the Russians. In 1956, the United States and other allies supported the Hungarians only in words and not in arms. America did not want to get drawn into an armed conflict with the Russians over the spoils of World War II. As a result, Hungary remained in the firm grip of Moscow.
In 1956, after being expelled, the Russians returned to Budapest 12-days later. In a classic Trojan Horse ruse, the Russians suppressed the gains of the Hungarian people with coordinated violence. The Russians inflicted violent reprisals and won back control of Hungary. The victory was once again snatched from the Hungarians just like in 1848-49 when the Russians came to the aid of the Austrian government to take control back of Budapest and Hungary.
In 1956, the world watched in horror as the Russians used lethal force to crush the Hungarians. A fact that seems long forgotten. The Soviet use of force to hold the Iron Dome together sent a message to the west and set the stage for the cold war. The show trials, reprisals, executions, slave labor sentences, and public hangings followed are all laid out in chilling detail in Sebestyen’s book.
The main symbol of the Hungarians during the 1956 Revolution was the Hungarian flag with the middle communist hammer part cut out. The revolution flag still remains a symbol of hope throughout the world and remains a reminder of the evils of Soviet Communism.
It is dangerous to live in the present without a firm understanding of the nature and emotional swings of Marxists. Mr. Sebestyen is the most qualified contemporary writer about the communist mindset. He speaks and writes as elegantly as any Brit. Mr. Sebestyen stands among the giants of military history: William Manchester, Robert Masse, John Keegan, and Martin Gilbert.
I hold Victor Sebestyen in the same esteem as Barbra Tuchman. His work is that good and important. If you have an interest in understanding the history of Central Europe from the Russian Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall, no better books exist.
What makes Mr. Sebestyen’s style so effective is that he identifies human nature. He stamps out the communist DNA. If you want to know a Marxist read all of his books. The familiarity you already possess with this communist mindset will strike you like déjà vu.
Sebestyen identifies the eternal struggle of our ancestors for utopia and revolution. Osacar Wilde said:
“A map of the world that does not include Utopia...is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing. And when humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realization of Utopias.”
Any scholarly conversation about revolutions and utopias must involve the Hungarians. The Hungarian struggle against true oppression is one of the more compelling tales in human history.
In 2022, the Hungarians are once again placed between two competing superpowers. Stuck between east and west. The old ways v. the new. Nationalism v. Globalism. Corporate Plaza v. Main Street.
Increasing legacy media reports smear Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. On CNN, the pundits toss each other off about how Orban continues to procure gasoline (GAZ-o-LEAN) for his people from the Russians. Another segment discussed Hungary’s chummy relationship with the Russians. But the main issue is Viktor Orban’s stance on LBGTQ issues and immigration. That is what makes Orban the left’s most hated leader next to Trump.
Viktor Orban is way at odds with those marshaling the batons of power at the EU and in Sun Valley. Many call Orban the “Trump of Europe.” Orban’s unofficial title earns him similar complete disdain.
Orban went from loyal friend of America & Israel in 2019 to public enemy of Joseph R. Biden in 2020. Biden basically called Orban a fascist. When America turns its back on Hungary's eternal struggle for freedom, you know there has been a giant government pivot.
The EU is exploring ways to impose economic sanctions against the people of Hungary for Orban’s anti-EU policies against immigration and gender equality. The Hungarians are caught in between eastern promises and western virtue signaling. Along with Poland, the Hungarians remain holdouts of religion and family values at the forefront of their national destiny.
Please gentle reader do not allow the name Tucker Carlson to scare you off. Here is what Tucker stated when he traveled to Budapest in 2021 to sit down with Prime Minister Orban:
“Hungary is a small country in the middle of Central Europe. It has no navy. No nuclear weapons. Its GDP is smaller than New York states. So you wouldn’t think leaders in Washington would pay much attention to Hungary. But they do oppressively. By objecting to the tenants of neo-liberalism, Viktor Orban has personally offended them and enraged them. What does Viktor Orban believe? Just a few years ago his views would have seemed moderate and conventional. He thinks families are more important than banks. He believes countries need boarders. For saying these things out-loud Orban has been vilified. Left-wing NGOs have denounced him as a fascist and destroyer of democracy. Last fall, Joe Biden suggested he was a totalitarian dictator.”
Orban looked like a cold warrior on Tucker primetime. He spoke broken English with an almost Russian accent. Almost like Drago from Rocky, “I will break you!” Orban boldly discussed the global push away from religion and family. Orban spoke about the new Western regimes in charge of the world and their leader’s obsession is to make a world with open borders. Like the Communists of old, the current leaders of the world crush all opposition that stands in the way of social justice.
Orban discussed that Hungary and Poland remain holdouts from the Western Europe utopia of a post-Christian and post-nationalistic world. A world where pride in your ancestors is frowned upon.
Tucker asked Orban whether Hungary must allow open border immigration like the Germans. Orban brought language and history in his defense for not allowing it. In his accent, he said, “Of course, it comes from God, nature, all arguments with us because this is our country, this is our population. This is our history, our language.”
The fall of Soviet Communism and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall coincided with the rise of Viktor Orban. Mr. Orban did not have the privilege to attend an Ivy League School. He was in the trenches against the Russians in the 1980s. His bravery and rhetoric against the Russians risked time in a gulag.
Orban stands in company with poet revolutionaries that rose to power on the merit of their character and not their corporate affiliations.
On May 20, 1988, Orban gave a speech in Hero’s Square about expelling the Russians from Hungary. On that day in 1988, before Facebook and the internet, Orban began addressing the large crowd: “You people fail to understand a lot of things about the older generation.” At the time, Viktor Orban was unknown to Hungarians. Orban was a nobody wearing blue jeans and now he is the leader of his people.
It is clear that history is at the forefront of Orban’s moral compass. Orban's speech came at a time when martyrs of the 1956 Revolution like Emre Nagy were being dug up and reburied to appease growing discontent with Soviet communism. The young Orban stated:
“We do not understand that the same Party and government leaders who told us to learn from books falsifying the history of the Revolution now vie with each other to touch these coffins, as if they were lucky charms. We do not think there is any reason for us to be grateful for being allowed to bury our martyred dead. We do not owe thanks to anyone for the fact that our political organization can work today…If we can trust our strength…we can put an end to the Communist dictatorship; if we are determined enough we can force the Party to submit itself to free elections; and if we don’t lose sight of the ideals of 1956, then we will be able to elect a government that will start immediate negotiations for the swift withdrawal of Russian troops.”
The speech stirred the crowd into a frenzy. The chants in that terrifying Hungarian language rang out “Russians Go Home!” Nine years later, this unknown young man was elected Prime Minister. It will do Americans well to remember that Orban rose based on his character and actions and not his corporate partners.
The corporate interest did not put Orban in power. That is why Orban is the object of their scorn. The Hungarian people put Orban in power. The same people whose ancestors were raped, murdered, tortured, and had their possession taken in the name of Stalin, Hitler, Khan, the Turks, Austrian Emperor Franz Josef, and so many overlords long forgotten.
In 2021, only 38% of Americans feel they are somewhat patriotic. In 2000, 87% of Americans felt they were somewhat patriotic. This massive shift away from patriotism should be concerning.
The modern world wants influencers and has forsaken poets. Those that rise to the top like Orban because of the merit of their character seem to no longer exist. You must be groomed and survive online mobs to make it in the 21st century.
Divisive issues like inclusion, LBGTQ, and immigration are the causes for a decline in appreciation of history and patriotism. The vanity of social media and pleasures of the modern world is an angry mob. The true poet revolutionary that defeats hatred with love is now forsaken.
Our society now wants the crown without the thrones. Consider the main difference between communism and democracy:
“Communist creed, though a pseudo-morphosis of Jewish-Christian messianism, lacks the fundamentals of it: the free acceptance of humiliation and of redemptive suffering as the condition of triumph. The proletarian Communist wants the crown without the cross, he wants to triumph by earthly happiness…” Professor Lowith.
We owe it to the ancestors of Hungary to acknowledge their collective suffering under repressive governments. We owe it to the brave revolutionaries and the forgotten dead of the Hungarian revolutions of 1848-49 and 1956 to honor their sacrifices and suffering.
In closing, I have a Romanian neighbor. Our dogs are both old and don’t really like each other. When I told her that I was part-Hungarian, she scoffed at me and started to lambast Viktor Orban and his anti-immigration and gay policies.
I reminded her that one of the top 5 worst communists of all time, Nicolae Ceausescu was Romanian. I explained how Orban was just a poet revolutionary that stood against the Russians at the same time her family fled Ceausescu.
I inquired if her mother was religious. She answered in the affirmative. We both agreed that spirituality was important. For various reasons, our society is moving away from religion and spirituality. If we lose spirituality then our national destiny mid as well be written in an Applebee’s corporate handbook. While we both support gay marriage, we could not agree to respect other nations declining to do so.
Next, I explained that my maternal English ancestors fought and died against the British in the American Revolution. According to Hannah Ardent, the America Revolution broke the shackles of poverty from the rest of the world. America shattered the inherent human condition of poverty as it had been in Europe and all of the world for well over 2,000 years.
I explained that I was proud that my ancestors freed the world from greedy totalitarian regimes. Just as I am proud of the Hungarians ancestors for their collective suffering and struggles to be free.
My Romanian neighbor was receptive to my points. Being proud of your ancestors and where you are from is an ancient virtue. We agreed that it is now a corporate vice to have patriotism.
An understanding of history and your ancestors should be at the forefront of our individual lives. Then collectively we may be able to make collective decisions better and attract responsible leadership. That is where I hope Viktor Orban is coming from when he stands in defiance once again. But who really knows those things?
My Romanian neighbor’s disdain for Hungarians remained after our talk. She still thought Viktor Orban was a terrible man despite our pleasant conversation.